"An International Tribunal is the most pressing demand in the
interests of justice. Of all the victims of Indonesian military violence
the greatest suffering was borne by women, who up to this time, have not
met with the justice they hoped for." from a statement by the
East Timorese Women's Network, June 2001

We join with our East Timorese sisters in calling for an international
tribunal for East Timor.

We urge the United Nations Security Council to establish an
international tribunal for East Timor without delay. The East Timorese
people have waited far too long for the architects and perpetrators of the
atrocities committed against them to be brought to justice. Over two years
have passed since the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry
on East Timor called for an international human rights tribunal. During
that time, it has become clear that only an international tribunal can
hold accountable the high-ranking Indonesian military, police and
government officials most responsible for crimes against humanity
committed in East Timor.

When Indonesia illegally invaded and occupied East Timor in 1975, it
began a genocidal campaign that lasted nearly a quarter-century. During
the first five years of the occupation, some 200,000 people - one-third of
the pre-invasion population - were killed. The occupation specifically
targeted women in several ways, including the following:

Rape and "forced marriage" to military personnel were used
to terrorize and control East Timorese women, to punish
pro-independence families, and to reward Indonesian soldiers. A study
of gender violence in 1999 by the Communication Forum for East
Timorese Women (FOKUPERS) found many acts of rape were "planned,
organized, and sustained - militia and soldiers conniving together to
abduct women and share them like chattel; or, in some cases, forcibly
taking women across the border into [Indonesian] West Timor where the
women were raped daily and made to perform household chores."
Tragically, the women among the estimated 80,000 East Timorese still
in Indonesian refugee camps remain vulnerable to sexual assault by
militia and military members.

East Timorese women were forcibly sterilized by the Indonesian
military under the guise of "family planning". It is
estimated that tens of thousands of women were injected with
contraceptives without their consent - sometimes even without their
knowledge - and never with adequate follow-up care.

An unknown number of East Timorese children were kidnapped and
raised in Indonesia as Indonesian citizens, a practice that continues
today. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has confirmed
240 cases of East Timorese children being taken from their parents by
militia in Indonesian refugee camps since 1999; according to the UN,
as many as 2,000 children may be held captive currently.

In the face of such suffering, it is truly reprehensible that the world
community has knowingly placed its faith in an unacceptable alternative to
an international tribunal - the Indonesian ad hoc Human Rights Court for
East Timor. Due to its many flaws, the Indonesian court will not
adequately address cases of gender violence and the systematic targeting
of women and children, among other serious crimes.

International justice was significantly advanced last year by the
decision of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to
classify rape as a crime against humanity. But the world community cannot
stop there. Atrocities committed against the people of East Timor deserve
no less attention than those committed against peoples of other nations.
An international tribunal for East Timor, with a mandate covering the
entire Indonesian occupation, must be established now to redress the most
heinous crimes committed against the women and men of East Timor.
Otherwise, international justice will appear weak and conditional, rule of
law will be undermined, and the people of the world's newest nation will
have good reason to lose faith in the world community.

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